What is Slovak Food?

What is Slovak food? I have never heard of it!

You are not alone. The traditional food of Slovakia is not exactly well known around the world. And this is a huge shame. Slovak may not be the most low-fat cuisine out there (but then, little fat is good for you), but it is very wholesome, down-to-earth cooking. It’s like spending everyday at your grandparents. Slovak food is very cheap, easy to cook, and best of all, extremely delicious!

Slovak Cuisine

The cuisine has its origin in the diverse Slovak geography. The landscapes vary from flat lowlands of the Danube valley in the south, through the wine producing Tokaj region in the east, to the snow-capped alpine peaks of the Tatra mountains in the north. Traditionally, Slovakia was a land of simple peasants, who spent their days working in the fields or watching after sheep in the mountains. The cuisine evolved from the ingredients people grew in their gardens, or from the products of the animals they raised. Potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and onions make the basis of many dishes. These are supplemented by chicken, pork, and to a lesser degree beef. And then there are the sheep. Besides mutton (which isn’t actually all that common), sheep produced various cheese products, including a feta-like cheese called bryndza and the smoked cheese oštiepok.

I put this page to give you a better idea of the kinds of dishes people eat in Slovakia (and to a large extent also in the Czech republic). It highlights some of my favorite dishes, with links to the recipes. It will also give you an idea of the kinds of dishes you may expect to find in a typical Slovak restaurant.

My favorite Slovak dishes

My favorite Slovak dish, by far, is kapustnica, sauerkraut soup made with smoked meats and dried mushrooms. This soup has such a great taste and is also quite filling. It is traditionally eaten on Christmas as the first course followed by fried fish with potato salad, another of my favorites. If there is only one dish you make from this website, make sure it is kapustnica. You will not regret it. It really is delicious. It is especially good the day after you make it. There is something about the soup sitting in the fridge overnight that makes the flavor really come out.

Another of my favorites are plum dumplings. These are not very common in restaurants, but are one of those grandma recipes you could always count on when visiting grandparents in the country. Although they are sweet, they are eaten as the main course. My grandma would typically first serve me chicken noodle soup (with home-made noodles!), and then bring out plum dumplings. She would often top them with crushed walnuts instead of poppy seeds. This is another dish you should try making. They are quite easy to prepare and have a taste much different from anything commonly available in the United States. Another great sweet treat are buchty, sweet dough buns filled with cottage cheese, jam, or poppy seed mix. During Christmas, the holiday table will contain a wide assortment of sweets, such as rum balls and bear paws.

A great meaty main dish is segedin goulash. This is a stew consisting of pork and sauerkraut, and is served with steamed dumplings. Steamed dumplings are very typical of the Czech and Slovak kitchens. They are called knedle in our language. They are little tedious to prepare (since you need to wait for the dough to rise) but will give your dish quite a different character. Knedle are used to soak up juices in your dish and as such go really well with stews and saucy dishes. You will also find them served with stuffed peppers. And of course, there is the Slovak national dish, bryndzové halušky. This is something I always make sure to order when I visit Slovakia. Unfortunately, the main ingredient, bryndza cheese, is not widely available in the United States and must be special ordered. Bryndza is also used to make pierogi. Finally, Slovaks love to eat rezeň, meaning breaded steak or schnitzel. There are many varieties but one that I particularly like is schnitzel with bacon and cheese.

Finally, when it comes to breakfast and snacks, I recommend you try hemendex. It consists of few slices of fried ham over which you cook couple eggs sunny side up. It makes for a good alternative to scrambled eggs or an omelet. I also like making potato pancakes. These are similar to latkes, but are seasoned with few additional spices such as garlic, marjoram, onion and black pepper. You can serve them with soup if you are looking for a light dinner.

287 Responses to “What is Slovak Food?”

Lubos, ye Lubos, so many favorite Slovak dishes I have from my childhood, if only children could eat like this now….
#1 is homemade chicken soup, all fresh, all soups, veal soup with neck bones, lentel soup, posting soups on your web site is so much a BIG part of Slovakia Cuesine all around the Country of Slovakia, People come home and have soup first and then the solid meal. May I suggest you start posting in catergories of Soups, Main dishes, and simple suppers.!!!
Good Luck, and tonight, I am having lentil soup with veal neck bones. Yummmmmmm!aPhilka, Indiana

That’s why we had little if any cancers: BABA & Zjedo had a porker and chickens, ducks, geese in the backyard. ORGANIC as all get-out! I’d rather die at 60 after a good life and wonderful food than spend the last ten or more years going to CHEMO, DOCTORS, and PHARMACIES. THAT’S REAL ‘QUALITY OF LIFE.’

You’ve got it right Nicholas, I live by the same credo, natural good tasting food, no chemicals, etc.

I am 68, and hope to enjoy life for much longer, and if not, I know that I won’t be going away while eating food I did not enjoy. What’s a purpose of eating food we don’t like, as food is essential ingredient we all must digest to keep us alive, so why not to make it enjoyable?

My Matka did the holupki (singular is holupek) same but no garlic, and put in a spoonful of tomato in each,plus into the pot. I once had a Russian Inuit lady make them with red cabbage, and i liked them better (sweeter and less acidic.)

My mom used to make a soup with corn, tomatoes, onion, celery, chicken broth, and chopped up bologna. She called it gebuzina (spelling?). I can’t find any reference to that on the web. Wish I knew how she made it. Do you know what that soup is traditionally called and how it is made?

Has anyone where heard of “lukshaw”? My Gram got the recipe from my Baba (her mother) who was first generation in this country from Slovika. We eat it every Christmas Eve. It’s homemade noodle dried then pan fried with Sauerkraut (and it’s juices) with a stick of butter. I’ve NEVER been able to find it on any Slovak page. I just want to know how american-ized our “traditional” Christmas Eve has become.

Oh my goodness! Lived in Johnstown for five years when first married. (During the flood.). I would love to have some genuine Czech recipes. Please share. My grandparents both lived there prior to America. My dad has died, and I would love to pass those favors to my grandchildren.

Father ,I would love to purchase a copy of the cookbook you spoke of. I am married to a wonderful Slovak man and his mom only allowed me to have certain recipes. If I could get the address or website I would be greatly appreciated to you.

My mother=in-law from Poland taught me how to make most of these great foods, but one of my favorite was homemade creamed tomato soup with a dash of cheddar cheese and potato pancakes that were very crispy….. oh yes/////

Hi Francine, I don’t know who you are, but few things:
1) If you don’t stop spamming, you will be banned from the site
2) Miro is not the one who posted the holubky recipe, it was me
3) The recipe comes from a Slovak book called Slovenska Kucharka
4) There are multiple recipes for all Slovak dishes, and claiming that one particular recipe is more Slovak than other is rather foolish.
5) I don’t dispute that your family may have used a different recipe. I would be very happy to post it here. Simply email me photos with step-by-step instructions (in a format similar to other recipes) and I will post it.

The gravy type you describe I think is called
zaprashka. It is made with browning the flour and adding either water or a drippings from a browned meat, chicken or pork.
My grandparents came from far Eastern Slovakia!

unfortunately my father does not know exactly where his mother and father came from whether it be eastern or western but we grew up eating all these dishes I have seen mentioned.There is one dish I have not heard anyone mention it is called paguch if I am spelling it correctly. It is made from bread dough stuffed whith a potato and cheese mixture then rolled out thin to look like a pizza and baked. We put lots of butter on it and could never get enough. I make today and my kids love it.

Eastern Slovakia : SNINA for Zedo, he was a baker when he came over, met Baba in Ford City,pA. But he didn’t like steel mill or PPG so he started his own bakery before moving to Erie; so everybody became a baker except the nun. Married my mother who was a fabulous cook and taught her baking. LUCKT FOR ME!

My mother Mary (Frendak) Kruzik made Zaprashka a lot. She even developed a recipe for (surplus) beef when our father a (coal miner) was out of work. It was delicious, and I still remember it 49 years later!

My mother also used to make Machanka. It is made with flour, butter tomato paste or stewed tomatoes and you dipped it with either French Bread or Blakan Bread. I did get a recipe from some one on line a few years ago and it was pretty good.. I remember Machunka (sp) was vdery taste and mom would fix a large bowl on cool fall and winter afternoon for us kids to enjoy.

My favorite has always been pirohi. I can’t get enough. Does anybody know anything about dishes called “macanka” (mushroom gravy, pronounced with a ch–I don’t have a hacek) or
“bobajki” (dough balls with poppy seeds)?

Yes I do we eat this dish on Christmas eve. It is made from fresh bread cut in 1 inch pieces placed in a bowl and drizzeled with poppy seeds and hony also a little warm water and I mean a little. toss it all togeather. It is wonderful. My sister always called the ant balls when we were little. We continue to make this dish every Christmas eve.

Yes, Bobalki were great, poppyseed rolls, holupky, pagaches, zemnyaki,pirohy. San Francisco has great (Russian) piroshky – a baked pirohi which started all the “wraps” or ‘hot pockets.’I found all my eastern Slovak ancestry at Mormon Family center for $3,including all Catholic baptismal records can go 2-3 generations.Mine go to 1870. (LDS church has 70 million ancestral records on microfiche.) Even added phonetic pronunciation.

Hi,
bobalky (on east) or pupaky (on west), opekance (i dont know where, maybe middle:) ) is not made from bread, for CHristmas Eve it has to be more rich, so we made it from special dough (like for christmas cake – vianocka) baked small pieces, then mix with poppy seed, honey and warm milk. I love it:)http://varecha.pravda.sk/recepty/pupaky-s-makom/34619-recept.html

People of several countries prepare meat cooked in cabbage leaves- halupki, galupki, golumpki- most include white rice. Is this a Slovak dish? Is it a very old dish, and was rice the original grain? I don’t know if rice was widely available long ago, and wonder if buckwheat or barley was used instead. I’d like the oldest recipe I can find.

Hi Ron, this dish is called holubky in Slovak, but it’s more widely known as plnená kapusta or stuffed cabbage. I believe it’s predominantly prepared in the eastern part of Slovakia. It consists of cabbage, meat, onions, eggs, tomato sauce, spices, and yes – rice. I don’t know when rice entered the Slovak cuisine, but rice has been used widely in Slovakia during my lifetime, hence for the last 30 years. I’ll keep you posted if I find out more.

Hi Ron, Yes holubky is delicious! My grandparents came from far Eastern Slovakia, in small villages near the town of Hummene’. Grandma (Babba) came to US in 1890’s, and made holubky with rice.
She would fry up some bacon,enough to make some drippings , remove bacon from skillet, add the finely chopped onions, saute for 1or2 mins. add rice cover with lid, and remove from heat.
Then after parboiling the cabbage and seperating the leaves, she would prepare the ground meat and add the rice and onion mixture salt and pepper, and blend it together for stuffing the cabbage leaf.
Hope this helps you write me if you have any questions.
I like connecting with you and so many other People of Slovak heritage!
Philka

Hello Chris! was just browsing here and saw your comment, My grandparent also were from Eastern Slovakia Hummene region. When we made halubky, (Kapusta na meso)sp? We covered the cabbage rolls with warm water, brought to a slow boil for 5-10 Mins. then reduce to a simmer. Mom would heat some water in the tea kettle if she needed to had some more during cooking.
Hope this helps you!
Philka

Thank you so much for this recipe. My Father was Czech and my Mom Irish. They used to make these all the time and we loved them. Since ours were never made in tomato sauce, what liquid do I use to put in the pot with the stuffed cabbage? My sister and I plan on getting together to make these as a surprise for our brothers.

Hi Margie, I cover the stuffed cabbage with water in the pot, with a lid on it, bring to a gentle boil for 5mins. then reduce heat to a simmer. Keep an eye on it to make sure it continues to simmer. Great dinner!
Philka

I just got done making a traditional recipe passed on to me by my late father. I do not know its origin or if it has the right name. The night before easter I make what can best be descibed as giant scrambled eggballs squeezed in cheesecloth and drained to form a sort of egg cheese. This is then cut into pieces with polish sausage,ham and easter eggs and fried in buuter.I always heard this called PUSKA.Does this ring a bell with anone? This is served once a year at EASTER.

Hi Anthony, this will be this mysterious substance commonly referred to as Easter Cheese. It is something that I’ve heard many other (second generation?) Slovaks mention, but is not something that I am familiar with. I have never ever seen, tasted, or even known anyone to prepare it. Anyway, there are various recipes on Greg’s It’s All Relative site, for instance, http://www.iarelative.com/sirok.htm. I hope that helps!

Yes I make it every easter as the family requests it . We called it easter cheese because the curds were squeezed so tight that they became one and formed a ball. Only we made ours sweet and added it vanilla and sugar and deffinately ate it Easter morning.

Hello lubos,
Thank you for the website you provided.This gave me some answers and had recipes very much like what I make. My father also made Halusky that was made with cabbage and some sort of dumplings sort of a thick cabbage soup. I am not sure about the spelling though. Some day you should try some Easter cheese as it is very good and worth keeping the tradition going.

Thanks Melania, that would explain why I have never heard of it. Most of Slovakia is Catholic (excluding the large atheist population) with the exception of the Orthodox Rusyns in the east. I am not particularly religious but my grandparents are Catholic and I was brought up with Catholic traditions. Since many Slovaks in the USA are descendants of folks from the eastern part of Slovakia, it makes sense that they would bring with them these eastern traditions.

Hi Lubos, As you have mentioned many places on your site, depending what region and village our Slovak ancestors came from, Slovak cooking varied.
Example, you never heard of Holubky in your area.
But for Easter, to clarify cirok is the Easter type cheese, made with a dozen eggs, etc, and left to drain in a cheese cloth usually hanging on the end of a chair in the kitchen with a clean pot under for the drippings.

Pascha is an Easter Bread, many times braided on top or dough shaped cross on top.
Hope this helps the Slovak Easter Readers!
Philka Happy Easter to All!

Hi Melania, I grandparents came from Eastern Slovakia… Hummene and Pascha is a slightly sweet bread, usually braided on top or form of the cross made with dough, some put golden raisins in the dough.
Cirek is the cheese type ball made with lots of eggs and milk, pinch of salt or sugar, and placed in a cheese cloth to hang and drip or cure.
Do you live in Slovakia now? If so what part,
would like to hear.
Happy Easter,Philka

Thank you for writing, I too keep Slovak traditions and have taught my children, too. When they were very young they really enjoyed, and now as young adults they apreciate the Slovak’ Tradition that I kept alive for 3 generations now.
Have a very Happy Easter, and enjoy the cooking and baking for this High Holy Season.
Philka

gOD BLESS! In Erie our Slovak Catholic church is down to the slovak WAriting above the Sactuary. We have a magnificent PIETA, “Our Lady of Sorrows” who is the patroness of Slovakia. Back in the old days we had novena every Friday night in Slovak. The tongue is still aLIVE IN cARPATHO-rUSSIAN bYZANINE AND oRTHODOX CHURCHES, BUT THE CYRILLIC ALPHABET IS LIKE rUSSIAN; HOWEVER NOW IT IS A SPOKEN RELIC OF THE ELDERLY AND VERY FEW IMMIGRANTS (since most came to work mills, mines) STILL ALIVE in larger cities like NYC. St Andrew Benedictine Abbey in Cleveland supplied our Slovak curates, I don’t know anything recent about them.

PASCHA. iS AN Eastern European BREAD. SPECIALLY MADE FOR EASTER. Symbolized with braided dough on a round loaf (the crown of thorns), and a cross in the center of the round loaf. So pretty, I hated to slice it. We all celebrate this beautiful Easter tradition all over Eastern Europe. Catholic and Orthodox alike.

just to say thankyou thankyou thankyou i’ve been tryin to find the right czech dumpling recipe for quite some time and none that i have tried worked till i tried yours …spot on..worked first attempt and made me feel like i was back in prague

my grandmother made noodles for chicken soup by mixing flour, salt, pepper, eggs and water into a ball. She then dipped the ball in flour and used the large holes on the grater to make little round noodles which she threw into boiling salted water. They are so good with homemade chicken soup. She called them drupsie – I am sure I am spelling it wrong. I love your site.

Do you have the recipe for nutrolls and poppyseed rolls that she made??? I would love to have these again!

So glad to find your site! I am third generation Slovak and was lucky that my mom taught me how to make all these wonderful foods1 Although I only recently learned how to make bryndzové halušky or at least a variation, since bryndza is very difficult to find here! Easter cheese is definitely an Eastern Slovak dish…called hrudka or cirek depending on where you are from. The Pascha is the Easter bread. Its also traditional Rusyn which is definitely found only in northeastern part of Slovakia, southern Poland and Ukraine.

Thank you very much, Loretta. It’s great to see that your family was able to pass on its traditions through three generations. When it comes to halusky, try them with cooked sauerkraut. They are very good like that, and also more healthy.

If Christopher is still around, from January, Mačanka and bolbalki are 2 dishes we serve Christmas Eve. The bolbalki are little baked pieces of dough ( I use leftover kolače dough) that you dip briefly in boiling water and then toss with honey and poppyseed! Mačanka is what we use for the base of our Christmas Eve soup. It is a zapraška base (roux) mixed with mushrooms and then water and some sauerkraut to make a slightly sour soup

Just tumbled on this website looking for info for granddaughter report. I’m 1st generation Slovak, many dishes we continue to do w/different variations. Christopher question;(Does anybody know anything about dishes called “macanka” (mushroom gravy, pronounced with a ch–I don’t have a hacek) or
“bobajki” (dough balls with poppy seeds)?)Our version; Machunka – thick gravy from left over meat trimmings used to dip homemade bread into? The bobajka- dried dough balls/squares, brought back by steaming and adding sourkrout at Christmas dinner along with mushroom soup from dried mushrooms, sourkrout, tomatoes, etc.

I’m trying to write about vanocni cukrovi/ Christmas cookies for the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library’s Christmas newsletter – but I don’t have any good recipes for vanilkove rohliky, vosi hnizda or pracny which use the American measurements and temperatures (and not the European ones) – can you help?

Seeing as you have such a fantastic collection of recipes up already – and so many blog followers – I turn to you! I’ll most certainly credit you for your recipes and send you a copy or two of our finished newsletter (not to mention a box of vosi hnizda, if you give me a yummy-enough recipe!)

I second this. Slovak Pub is a definitely a place to visit, due to its decor. The food is so-so. If you have time, go visit some salaš or koliba outside the city limits. These are the traditional Slovak restaurants, where you can get really tasty halušky. You should also try Hungarian goulash (maďarský guláš), and of course, the sweets in pastry shops.

Posts in other thread made me thinking about what really is Slovak cooking. It can go from simple meals, using just a few basic ingredients to rather sophisticated meals, all depending on what you have available.

I think it was always that way through the history, where you had well doing segments of society, and then not so well doing segments but all of them had to eat. Then there were times when everybody went through “lean” times e.g., after wars, and yet we had to cook and feed ourselves.

I know, it’s the same in all countries and societies but Slovak cuisine is really flexible and even simple meals are rather tasty. When you think about it, even our national hallmark food “halusky” is based on simple ingredients (potatoes, flour, cheese, and maybe some bacon).

You can make “kapustnicu” really simple way, no meat at all or just a few low grade meats like smoked pig feet, etc.

There are many meals like that. It was a joy and feast when the first new potatoes showed on a market and the main meal was “new boiled potatoes, with a bit butter over it, sprinkled with freshly cut parsley and a glass of sour milk (kefir)”. Anybody remembers “leco”? Some tomatoes, some peppers, some potatoes, add an egg (if you have it) and that’s it.

The point is that each meal starts with some “base” that is built on easily available ingredients. In Slovakia it would be potatoes, cabbage, vegetables, flour, and maybe bacon, cheese, or some fat. You can make a tasty meals just from that that will sustain you. But then, if available, you can add some meat, and make some more sophisticated recipe.

Of course that brings roasting, baking, barbequing, stewing the meat, making sauces and gravy, using creams, sour creams, etc. Later on you use spices that were not available in old times in Slovakia, and make recipes even more elaborate.

Yes, that’s a Slovak cuisine. From simple to sophisticated, and all (at least to me) taste good.

Many of you had not that experience (growing up after WWII) Those were not “plentiful times” I was eight years old and I marched every morning to local diary store with coupons in my hand (government issued “listky”) as there was rationing and that was the only way to buy milk and maybe some butter. If I was late, there would not be any milk, as there was a limited supply.

Not sure ny of you remember walking into grocery store and there was nothing on shelves, or going to butcher and not being able to get a slice of good meat. Yet, we had to cook and feed ourselves.

That butcher and grocery store scenario continued until we left Slovakia in 1978. I befriend the local butcher, we always had a few drinks on me, and ev3n in that case it was “hey, come on Tuesday, I may have some fresh beef, and if I do, I’ll cut you a piece of it”

Anybody remembers “potatoes order in the fall?” It was that way until 1970’s. In a fall you asked for one or two bags of potatoes (depending on a size of your family, and there were limits how much you could get) and then you got it and you must kept it in a sound state as it was supposed to keep your through the winter.

Yes, you could buy some more at a store (if they had it) but the price was way too high, and stores did not have even that simple stuff like potatoes on a regular basis.

No we did not starve, and we cooked and ate, and it was quite OK and tasty.

Yep, that a Slovak Cooking and Food, make the best from what you have and if you have some more make it better. 🙂

Thank you for sharing your memories. Even though I also grew up while the country was still communist, my experiences were much different from yours. I have never experienced any shortages in the markets, except perhaps with the exception of luxury items like color TVs. To get those, you really had to know the store owners who would put them aside. But when it came to food, there were no shortages. And folks my sister’s age basically grew up after the fall of communism. It’s interesting to see how quickly things change.

Oh BTW, I am sure that even younger folks remember the routine, we’ve got through the week cooking some “stuff” but then came the weekend and better food and meat was cooked/served. It may have been not much, but I remember having “Vienna schnitzel” and potato salad with cucumber on a side. That’s how I knew it must be Sunday 🙂

Oh, even rabbits I raised and took care off were served only on weekends.

Oh, never mind Holidays, Christmas was special, and so was Easter. We had more food than usual, don’t know how we did it (to get ingredients) but we did.

Miro, you have same memories as I do. I remember getting up at 4:00 AM and went to corner butcher store and stand in line waiting for pork for Sunday wiener schnitzel, and maybe, maybe some beef for soup, by time store was open there were 100 people, I lived in Bratislava, from meat store here we go to Zelovoc for potatoes, oranges??? hahaha, maybe apples. Meantime milk store run out of milk, what a luck and half of day was gone.

Oh my, tell me about “Maly Frantiskani”. When in college (65 to 70) we spend many nights there just drinking vine, singing, talking and having some garlic toasts, and sometime when we felt really rich we threw in a Tatar beefsteak. I never had halusky there.

Just be careful (no matter of what age you are) steps are steep and narrow. It was fun watching drunk folks trying to get down or up, and it included me in old times 🙂

Om my, memories. Melania, we maybe even crossed our path in the past. I lived in Bratislava from 1965 through 1978 when we left the country.

Melania, you have heads on me living in Bratislava, I lived my young years in central Slovakia, and came to Bratislava when starting my college education in 1965, after serving in military, don’t want to bother folks of details, say Racinska and Lamac.

One thing we agree on, things were changing but when it comes to food, there were shortages. It may be related to distribution and locations.

Bratislava was big and butcher stores were scarce, and thus a lack of supply. When it comes to vegetables it was a joke. We had a Zelevoc across the street (in Lamac development) not much to buy, some of veggies rotten and some not available. It was in 1977.

My father in law (bless his heart he is in better place now) when he retired, he went early in the morning to shop for meat, don’t remember what was that meat store called, it was at the bottom of Manderlak building right in the middle of downtown, I think banks owns he building, next to today’s “farmers market”

My Father in Law marched there every morning to get some meat, and even chicken stuff ran out when he was late.

It all changed in later years, and it’s definitely better, though for some folks in old country it was still cost prohibitive at that time.

It was not only food shortages but appliances as stoves, refrigerators, washers,TV set, we were taking turns in line between some family members early morning until store open, that morning came 6 tv’s and I was number 15, so you know no TV that day, it was year 1961. Now they have everything, but morality is low, crime is high and so on, so on.

I fell onto this site just looking around and thinking about my family (my mother came from a town called Trstin, outside of Bratislava. They came to the US on Columbus Day, 1937. With the holidays coming soon, I want to let you know what my mother used to make as our traditional Christmas Eve dinner:

Prune soup: sour cream, sour kraut, mixed with prunes. It was sweet/sour and not many of us liked it.

Mushrooms and farina: mushrooms were sliced and sauteed in butter, and then added to farina. It was cooked until somewhat golden and then served.

Bread and Honey: White bread was cubed and sauteed with a dollup of honey and a liberal dose of poppy seeds.

We cracked open walnuts. If the walnut was not rotted, the individual would be healthy for the next year. If the walnut was bad, we laughed.

My mother fried fish and shrimp to go along with these dishes.

We also had Oplatke which was blessed by the priest at St. John Nepomecene Church on 66th Street and First Avenue in Manhattan. Honey was dripped over the host in the form of a crucifix.

We had a shot of whiskey and moved onward to wine. I apologize for any misspellings. i’d like to know of any similar traditions. Thanks.

I can’t wait to read every entry on this site but it will have to wait : I am 20 minutes from serving machunka and bobalki. We are a day early but are having Christmas dinner (turkey) on Christmas eve tomorrow. I was wondering if anyone knows the significance of this meal on Christmas eve, which is what I was searching so I could tell the family while we eat. I only made machunka once before and it is the first time for bolbalki but mom made them every year on Christmas eve. Our machunka is a thick soup of the main ingredients of browned flour, mushrooms and sausage, sour cream and the liquid from sauerkraut. We put honey and ground poppyseed on the bolbolki after a dash of boiling water.
Merry Christmas.
My family is from Davidov, Slovakia.

Thank you, lubos! Everything came out great and we all are pretty full. I also made the halupki (cabbage rolls) for tomorrow and we all had a taste of those with dinner too. Thank you for the information and sites. I will read up on it. My parents passed away some time ago and this keeps them close to me. I went to Slovakia to fulfill a promise I made to my dad before he died. My cousins are just like me! We ring a bell at Christmas in each of our Countries at the same time since we met. (I live in Canada).

love this site 🙂 brings so much memories.. I can’t say what is my favorite meal (have too many, lol) but as one earlier poster said – Slovakian kitchen could be also very simple (when needed)and I remember one of my favorites “granadir” (cooked pasta, mixed with boiled potatos – mashed a bit, mixed with browned choped onion on a little bit of oil, salt, red pepper (spice), maybe some caraway or so… I loved it with few pickles on side!!! Or another one – falosny gulas = basically goulas without real meat using sausage or salami instead. Another one – buchane zemiaky (smashed potatos) = baked whole potato till they are almost overbaked abd falling appart, then we put them on cold baking sheet and kids were smashing one potato after another (for fun time famiy meal, usually in summer outside as many village home used to have outside kitchen), adding butter on the top, salt and sour cream, drinking milk with it 🙂 my kids loved this – great summer fun! Another potato one – yes, we love potatos – we called “vegetove zemiaky” – these are still our favorite even here in Canada where we live now. Cut potato leaving skin on in vedges or thicker slices, placing them on oiled cooking sheet (one layer only for best results), sprinkled with salt, caraway seeds and spices mix called vegeta (came from former Jugoslavia). Bake and enjoy! Caraway-egg soup for fast and simple dinner… and many more. Yeah, I better start cooking these slovakian meals more often, I miss them.

and yes, for Xmas – it would be fried and breaded carp or bravcovy rezen (pork schnitzel) with home potato salad was a must for my generation…

one more comment to previous poster who talked about old times and not having enough of this or that… Even if I am (I think) bit younger and don’t have those same memories, I can relate to what he was saying – it was always good to be on friendly note with a butcher to get some meat (yes, in communism time it we were not hungry but we got limited amounts and had to wait in line to get almost everything). Oranges and bananas only on Mikulas or X-mas…. most families had gardens and grew fruits, veggies, potatos, if living conditions allowed – people would have animals, at least chickens or/and rabbits (my grandparents used to have a pig, geeses, etc) for meat, and everybody would pickled and preserve everything and anything possible so we would be as indipendent as possible.

Well, those are my memories anyways (great ones too) – I am now in my forties and I lived in slovakia from 64 to 95 – so in times we called socialism.

Thanks for creating this website!!!!! will read more later and enjoy reading and cooking 🙂

Has anyone heard of a dish called zapre zena kapusta and know how to make it? I am not sure of the spelling. My mother in law used to make it and she recently passed away. She never taught us and my husband loved it. I would like to try making it for him. From what I remember it was a cabbage dish with a red sauce.

Chop the onion, slice cabbage into strips, slice smoke meat into small cubes.
Sauté onion, add meat, cabbage, caraway seeds, Add a bit of water and salt, and stew it until soft. Drain liquid (if any left), transfer it to a baking dish, add sliced peppers. Mix eggs, sour cream and tomato paste nd pour it over the cabbage in a baking dish.

After answering Stephanie’s question I realized that it may be a good idea to describe some terms used in Slovak cooking so person living in English speaking world can better understand what it means.

These are a few frequently used terms in Slovak cooking and what they usually means, I say usually as a local dialect and family used terms may be a bit different.

Zapravene – mix with other ingredients and cook, be it stew, bake, etc. Zapravene eggs means mix it with other stuff.

Zaprazene – sauté ingredients (usually onion and garlic) but also greens like cabbage etc. and then let it stew until soft.

Zapecene – usually means to put a layers of some stuff and let it bake (equivalent of casserole in the US) francuzke zemiaky (french potato casserole) is an example

Dusene – stewed means you let the ingredients stew in it’s own juices and usually adding some water, or vine. It’s used for many vegetables and meats.

Pecene – baked, usually referred to meat, you put a meat into oven and bake it at appropriate temperature.

Osmazene – usually means searing, put a meat on a frying pan with minimum oil and sear it on all sides, after that you ususally use some other methods to finish it, like baking or stewing.

Vyprazane – means frying the meat or cheese stake or seafood. You usually use a flour, eggs, bread crumbs, to cover the steak and then fry it, aka Wiener schnitzel., aka Viedensky rezen.

Uvarene – Boiled – I think there is no need to talk about boiling, I think everybody knows boiled potatoes. Just to be sure, there is difference between boiled and stewed, the difference is in purity … you boil potato, or meat as a single item, you stew meat stew with lot of ingredients.

Parene – steamed, you use it for some “buchty” or for some vegetable like steamed broccoli or meat/sea food, like steamed crabs.

As Loretta Ekoniak said, zaprazana means making a raux and using it as a base for something else. She is correct and thus I change above to
zaprazene – using a raux (zaprazku) in preparing the food. It’s usually used in soups, side stewed vegetable side dishes (zeleninove pridavky) and stews to make meal more rebust.

There is another term I ran across “prekladane” it’s kind of selfexplanatory, meaning layered, e.g., use a layer of sliced potatoes, layer of eggs, another layer os sliced sausage, etc. You usually bake it like a cassarole.

Zapražena in eastern Slovak dialects is not a preparation technique but a gravy base. It is the equivalent of the French roux. It is made by frying flour in some type of grease….whether butter, lard or bacon grease…to various shades of brown depending on the recipe…then liquid is added…soup stock, etc, then just about anything…cabbage, sauerkrout, noodles, etc. So you end up with a base for soup, stew, vegetables, etc. zapražená polievka, mačanka, etc.

Yes, zaprazena means making a roux and then using it as a base for something else, But it is a technique, isn’t it? Here lies a problem, translating from slovak to english recipes is not easy as we all may interpret it differently.

I have always thought that our (Slovak) food is simple and plain. Now I’ve been away from Slovakia for a couple of years, and realized how wrong I was. It kinda never came to me before that people really cannot buy an absolutely normal steamed dumpling in every Finnish store 🙂
Now I crave the simplest Slovak meals. (btw, I have time to post a comment here because I’m waiting for my dumpling dough to raise :))
I really love leco, paprika potatoes and granadir too. And milk soups…like bean or peas-potato milk soup of my grandma…(both my parents are from little villages near Nitra).

And to add my 5 cents to memories of others: I am just in my 30’s so I was luckily spared the shortages. But I still remember queues in Zelovoc, or way too early visits of dairy on some special days, because I loved those yoghurts which were sold in glass bottles only on those special days. I still remember the taste of the strawberry one…if only there was one nowadays which is coming near to that taste…
And yes, my parents also had to befriend the lady working in Zelovoc, if we wanted to have at least 4 bananas for Christmas 🙂

And one last thing I wanted to share: after seeing the title of this thread, I kinda started to think WHAT exactly is Slovak traditional cooking, or food. I am a 100% Slovak, with all of my family living in Slovakia and I’m planning to return back soon too (so I am the last one to offend my homeland :)), I just find it kind of funny that meals that I remember as the most frequent have their origin in some other country, be it Hungarian Goulash, Vienna Schnitzel or maybe even French potatoes (which are French probably just by the name anyway^^) or the dumpling.
But somehow, I still consider these meals “Slovak”. I think as soon as something tastes good, and we’ve got all the ingredients, Slovaks see no reason why they shouldn’t include it into their menu, making something about 100 varieties of the original. On the forums, I sometimes come across very angry people who call us thieves. But to sum it up…I think what matters most is the food itself. What do I care that onigiri (rice balls wrapped in seaweed) comes from Japan, if I love them? Now all of my Slovak family knows that “onigiri” is one of my personal traditions, and I am Slovak…hopefully I won’t meet any angry Japanese people in my kitchen to yell at me because of that 🙂 have to run now, my dumpling dough is ready!

Thanks to everyone for your help. I think I am getting closer. I definitely think she used the term zaprazena as you described as a roux because I recall tasting the browned flour in it now that you mention it and my guess is she used lard or bacon grease. There was no meat in the dish, it was more of a side cabbage dish. I will try making the roux and then add tomato soup (she did that with a lot of her recipes like cabbage rolls and stuffed peppers) and then saute the cabbage in that and add some caraway seeds and see how close I get. I know she didnt use garlic because she hated it but she may have added some onion. Thanks again.

Stephanie, this is recipe I used.
1 small head cabbage
salt
2 cups water
1 Tbs oil
1 tbs chopped onion
1 Tbs flour
1 can of tomato sauce 15.oz.
1 tbs sugar-optional
garlic optional
Chopped onion, add water, salt and cook until cabbage is soft.
In small pan saute onion in oil, add flour, make sure you don’t burn flour add 1 can tomato sauce, rinse can with a water, combine everything with cabbage, now you can add chopped garlic and sugar optional. Cook for another 5 min. and serve as side dish or with boile potatoes.

I am a teacher in California and was looking for the traditional Slovak recipes I grew up with to share with my fellow teachers. My great-grandparents came from Slovakia and we still eat these same foods 4 generations later. I always thought the foods and recipes we made every year at Christmas and Easter were “Americanized” versions, but after reading everyone’s posts, I’m happy to see that they are authentic recipes. It makes me want to go to Slovakia…if I spoke the language! 🙂

Beth – I went to Slovakia without the language and did just fine! Both my parents were from the same small village in Eastern Slovakia. Both had passed but I asked one of their friends to translate a letter to my relatives there that I would be passing through and would like to meet them (we visited several countries in 2006). WELL they found a cousin in Bratislava who could speak some English and the emails began. In the village there was no English but we communicated. I understood common words. We gestured. We drew pictures. A neighbour knew English words on paper but had never spoken them – she took a few minutes to say a few words but we communicated. We stayed with them 3 days and I will cherish them forever. On the last night they found a young relative (the young are learning English – they call it the language of money) who could translate for us. We told stories and cried. We went from house to house for big meals (and shots). I saw my grandmother’s and uncle’s graves. It was the best thing I ever did. We stayed in the mountains and Kosice too. It is a beautiful country. The best thing I ever did.

Beth, not speaking language should not hold you back visiting Slovakia. Anyway, if you ever traveled outside the US, I bet that you visited some countries that speak different language than English.

Slovakia is changing and changing every year and even in remote country there is somebody speaking some English.

Of course I never had a problem as the first 34 years of my life I lived and spoke Slovak language.

Slovak and Czech people are friendly, trying to accommodate, especially when it is somebody with roots in the old country.

There is one thing that no language barriers can change. If you are able to go and see graves of your family going back many years, if you can see that small vilage where your grandparents lived, and even see the house (if somebody else lives in a house, don’t be afraid to ask, can I come and see where my grandpa lived) you have that feeling “this is where I came from” it’s worth it more than food 🙂

Miro, This past spring we took our family for the second time to Slovakia and visited all of our ancestral villages and many of our relatives..if you have a chance, don’t pass it up! There is nothing so thrilling as seeing where your roots are! And although I speak some Slovak, if you do not speak the language don’t let that deter you..the Slovak people are very welcoming and if there is anyone college age or younger, they will know enough English to help you!

Thank you everyone for your words of encouragement. I do want to go there someday. Someday being the operative word, as money is an issue right now. 🙂 It’s been on my bucket list, but I may have to find a way to move it up a few spaces after reading all of your stories.

Joys, no need to appologize for writing in Slovak, however, most folks have a problem to find slovak recipes in English, as they don’t speak Slovak language, that was the main reason Lubos started this site, to let folks know about slovak cuisine.

Please, don’t take it wrong, your contribution and insight to slovak cooking is appreciated by me and I think by many other folks

Thanks for your interesting site. My grandfather was a full Slovak. Unfor. we have become completely “Americanized” and no one speaks the language anymore. His family came from a small town near the border of Ukraine(near the Carpethian Mountains) They were very poor and worked land that belonged to an wealthy person. There was not much opportunity then (1905-1910) so they left for the US. I know they were Orthodox as they helped found an orthodox church in Akron. From what I read here, I am guessing that Orthodox was not as common among Slovaks as the Catholic Church. Can anyone explain why? Thank you so much.

I just picked up my maternal grandmother’s cookbook- “Anniversary Slovak-American Cook Book” Edited by the First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union, estb, 1892. It was published in commeration of the 60th anniversary of their founding (1952). I was hoping to find her recipe for Sauerkraut zaprazena. No luck. (Lots of recipes for Kolacy, Pagach, Pagach, Holubky, etc. As well as 1950’s gelatin salads and household hints. Thanks to your site, I think I can recreate the receipe I so fondly remember.

Oh my god, I just came back from my trip to Slovakia. What can I say, a Slovak hospitality killed me. I came back 15 lb heavier … it was always eat this and that, you must be hungry (two hours after having a big breakfast) My sis saying after I had a dinner, oh come on, you’ve got to eat the rest of it and the rest of it was ANOTHER full plate.

God help me, I am trying not to eat at all, this friendly Slovak cuisine nearly killed me
though I like4d every bit of it 🙂

still no excuse Lubos though I understand where you are coming from! 🙂 In Cleveland, Youngstown Pittsburgh you see pirohy more often than pierogi and you see it several other ways too, but when we see pierogie we know that they are going with the Polish spelling. If you read about Mrs. T’s you will see that Mrs. Twarzik was Polish so of course that is how her son would spell it. It does not mean we need to misspell it on a site about SLOVAK cooking.

well, yes, this site is about Slovak cooking – not about Slovak spelling 😉 unless…. it is about spelling and then I better not post here anymore cause I am a bad speller in all languages and I don’t even care what’s the origin of a certain dish that we Slovaks adopted as ours and love to cook, eat and promote … Happy Cooking and Eating to all of us!

If we had to worry about correct spelling, most of our names have been changed since our families came to make pronunciation simpler. The important thing is to treasure our Slovak heritage and that includes all of its delicious foods! Thank you Lubos for helping share the pride!

Hi folks, I still stand by my original comment. Pierogi is what these things are called in English. There is no denying that there are many more Poles than Slovaks in the US and hence that’s why the Polish spelling (plus pierogi are much more common in Poland than in Slovakia, at least based on my personal travel experiences). I am sure that if you look at other cuisines you will find similar examples of dishes that are popular in multiple countries, but for some reason the name in one particular language stuck…

I agree Lubos – and thank you for this web site!
I made pirohy for the first time over the Christmas holidays (which I called pierogis for all joining us and then made them say pirohy properly aloud several times before they got to eat them!) My son-in-law is Polish and loves traditional food. My dough was a bit stiff and not thin enough but no one complained. It was hardest to keep the water boiling hard on my glass cooktop! Mom filled them with both lekvar and sauerkraut and we added a third with leftover potatoes and cheese. We tossed them with browned butter. Ah, good Slovak memories. I ended my meal with a lekvar one, just like when I was little. 🙂

“I ended my meal with a lekvar one, just like when I was little.” – reminds me one of my childhood memories – parene buchty with jam and mix of poppy seeds, sugare and melter butter on the top of them 🙂

Hello Lubos, Thank you for this website. I am very glad I found it. I’m French, leaving in the Uk and engaged to a SLovak who of course miss his food. This site is a great help, I’m going to cook slovak food much more.
I love all of it but my favorite is the steam bread with duck and red cabbage, I’m crazy about that everytime we go visit his family.
And of course all the goulash, potatoe salad, paprika chicken… YAMI: )
Take care

Hi, Macanka is made by me still at Christmas time or the fall when weather gets colder. I learned to make it from my grandmother. Her mother was actually a chef here in CT. I make Macanka as a tomato gravy with lots of garlic and fried cubes of pork. If done correctly it should take all day to cook. It is served with cubes of dense white bread. She also taught me to make stuffed Cabbage (she called them Hulumkys or something similar)which I have actually modified for the microwave. My grandmother loved them from the micro until she found out how I cooked them. Then she swore they were “terrible” as micro cooking to her was sacrilege. (ROFLOL!)

I am glad I found this web site. My wife’s great grandparents were from Snina and she has some memories of the food. I am looking with interest as there is a slim chance I could go to Bratislava to train staff.

My baba from western Slovakia pronounced a food I loved “peed – oh – hee” — my husband swears this is pierogi–it was so many years ago, I can’t remember if this was a pierogi/pirohy or something else altogether…must really start connecting more with my roots—love this site!!

Hello Denise, Where are u located?
I am in North Indiana , not far from Chicago
and we love Pirohy. My Mother made it every
Friday for all 6 of her children. Oh Do connect and study all about your Slovak roots,
what a beautiful culture, and people, write soon,
Philka

Wow, Loretta, that makes so much sense! Thanks for clearing that up. My baba had a very thick accent; I suspect she was pronouncing it correctly, and the rest of us “Americanized” people are mispronouncing it.

Hi Denise, I am in northen Indiana. My Stata Baba…. Stata means old baba means Grandmother. So my old grandmother who immigrated to America way back in 1899…. taught her only American born baby, My Mother how to make Pirohy. Delicious delicate dough and fillings, the key to Slovak Pirohy is: …. top it off with delicately browned butter. The Poles or polish styele do not have this culinary style as do us Slovaks!
S’ Bohom
Philka

It is such fun to see how we “anglicize” our Slovak words! I grew up thinking stara baba was “stada baba” Philka thought it was “stata baba” , Denise heard pirohy as “pee do hee”… but isn’t it wonderful that we have these wonderful memories of how our babas and their wonderful fods too!

I have not checked in here for some time since I thought it was getting boring, but the last several posts are good quality so I guess I’ll add you back to my everyday bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂

My favorite dish my grandma would make is red cabbage and klednicky. Its a cabbage sauce(NOT RED CABBAGE) just good ol cabbage in a tomato based sauce that has onion salt pepper sugar and vinegar. The klednicky are dumplings made from torn bread ,bacon,bacon grease, eggs salt and pepper, boiled then fried in butter. Top the dumplings with the red cabbage. I could live on this i love it so much. I make it once or twice a year. Not one of the most healthy meals but oh so oh so gooooood! Love the website its so good seeing other slavs who love our food as much as i do:))

Hello josephine, Thanks for your reply!, i am thinking that maybe my grandmother adapted this recipe when she came to united states, possiblly out of necessity? Being we are in new jersey there is an abundance of tomatos. Its the only recipe i know of that has tomato in it. Also if i could ad, she would bake me a birthday cake every year ( Oooooh my favorite) Its a walnut cake. We would grind the walnuts in a hand grinder( the kind also used for grinding meat for sausage). I can still taste it today in my memories. Unfortunately she had a stroke and passed and i never could find the recipe. If any one knows of a walnut cake i would love to see the recipe. Ive never found one to compare. Actually im not sure but i dont think she used white flour and the frosting ad ground nuts as well, I remember the cake having several layers. Thank you:))))))))))

Hello josephine, thank you so much for your reply. I will check out the recipe. Thanks so much for taking the time to send this for me. I will let you know how it goes. Take care and i wish you well! :)))))

Have been seriously tracing my family roots for the past few years. My paternal grandparents arrived in the US in late 1800’s and 1901…ship manifest listing “Slovakian” from Dohl, Austria…anyone know where this might be?
but back to the actual site conversation..I am so glad to have found this. My daughter loves to cook and I will be collecting these recipes to send to her…maybe she will be the one to reconnect our family to our “heritage” cooking!!!! Thank you so much for putting up this site!!!

Please allow me to extend my warmest regards and greatest respect for what you are doing here. My own heritage is German-American, but I was introduced to the wonderful world of Slovak cuisine by my wife, whose grandmother emigrated from the village of Zakarovce (I believe this is in the Kosice region) to Montana in the United States shortly after World War 1 (around 1920).

As you can guess, my wife has many fond food memories thanks to her grandmother, and over the years, she has shared these with memories and recipes with me, including her four favourite ones. These are her grandmother’s version of holubky (which she calls “pigs in an blanket”), her grandmother’s nut roll, her Easter cheese and of course halusky. If you don’t mind, I will tell you a little about them here. Her versions are slightly different than yours, but as you know, peasant cooking such as this is always subject to variations from town to town, or even from kitchen to kitchen. I suspect that there is a little bit of “Americanization” in her recipes, but my wife says that they are exactly as she remembers her grandmother making them.

For holubky, she par-boils the cabbage and strips the leaves off, and mixes ground beef with rice, salt and pepper. she then adds finely-diced onions and garlic (sometimes she cooks the onions and garlic a little, and then lets them cool, before adding them to the meat) and mixes it all together. Then she puts small oval of meat mixture in the leaf and rolls it up and layers them between sauerkraut and canned diced or crushed tomatoes. Sometimes she puts them in a pot to boil and other times she puts them in a baking dish to bake – either way, they are delicious! True comfort food that immediately makes one think of visiting Grandma.

For halusky, she peels, boils and mashes 6 potatoes, mixes in two eggs, salt and pepper, and then just enough flour (usually about 2 cups) to make a good dough – almost exactly the same as your zemiaková knedľa. Then she rolls the dough out on a floured board, cuts it into pieces maybe 1 inches by 2 inches, and drops them in the boiling water until they rise to the surface. Then she drains them when they are done. Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven, we’ve got bacon, diced onion, and sliced/chopped cabbage cooking – sometimes a little bit of garlic, too. She drops the finished halusky into the bacon, onion and cabbage and cooks everything together, and then sometimes adds cottage cheese right at the end (unfortunately, we have no access to brydnza!) and stirs it all together before serving.

She also learned a nut roll that she calls kolace, but it looks a lot like your makovník a orechovník. As far as I can tell, everything is the same, except the name.

Finally of course, she learned to make…. EASTER CHEESE! This of course goes with my wife’s favourite holiday, Easter, and is something we make every year. I have done some reading and I am not sure if the proper name for this cheese is “hrudka” or possibly “sirets” or “ciruk,” but it is of course very good and perfect for spring, when everything is new again. Another favourite Easter tradition is to serve ham, along with eggs that were boiled in the ham water.

All of these are wonderful recipes that have become favourite traditions in our family, and so I am always looking for new Slovak recipes to try. When I see the pictures here with your grandmother and grandfather in their home, it reminds me very much of when we would visit my wife’s grandmother, and I know the happy and warm memories we have from those visits must be very similar to your own.

I intend to try many of your recipes and post my efforts at my website, and will of course give full credit to your wonderful recipe collection, along with a link to your site. I may have many questions for you, and I hope you do not mind answering them.

Finally, please allow me to intive you to visit my site any time, and if you wish please feel free to offer any comments or share memories, methods or recipes. I have posted teh four recipes that I mentioned above, with good details and step-by-step pictures for the halusky and holubky. In the coming months, I will post similar “pictorials” for the nut roll and Easter cheese.

Once again, Thank you very much for sharing this rich heritage, and best wishes for continued correpsondence –

We make a walnut roll that we have always called kolache. I only learned this year from this website that it may in fact be orechovník. We have a recipe in my great-grandmother’s handwriting calling it kolache. She was born in Slovakia. No idea why this is, but it seems many Slovak-Americans call it that. Mmmmm, now a want a piece!

I have enjoyed reading comments and getting information. It has brought back many memories of my childhood shared with my Bupka and mother. The afternoons spent cooking with them are some of my fondest memories. I have a question. My mom used to make a dish for our family and my children loved it but I have not made it in years. Can anyone help me with ingredients and proportions. I also forget the name. It was a noodle that was either grated or roughly chopped, then boiled. After she tossed these in ground walnuts and sugar. Any help would be appreciated
Thanks

cant help you more than you’ve already said. You’ve got it all, it’s noodles with wallnuts and sugar.

Just boil any noodles/pasta you like and after that mix it with walnuts, sugar, and some butter. Folks back home do it with many things, aka, ground poppy seeds (mak), farmers cheese and sugar, chestnuts (gastany) and sugar, etc.

I just came back from a month long trip to Europe, the last week spent in Slovakia. It was good to see friends and family, however, I have to say that eating the “original” slovak ingredients (aka brynza in halusky, home made goat cheese, home brewed beer and slivovica) did me in 🙂

Ohhh yes yes soooo figgen good…miro has it correct. I have to reminisce a bit. Yesterday was my bday and my bupka made me heavenly walnut cakes every year..complete with ground walnuts hand ground …oh how i miss it!

Haven’t heard of this Slovak Food in ages, and yeah your right, it was famous on our grandparents time.. Nice to find a helpful blog like this with much information.. can’t wait till i read every post 🙂

My Grandmother used to carve dime sized slippery dough into a large pot of boiling water, then after a few minutes, drain off the water, then added OLD CHEDDAR CHEESE, PERHAPS A 1/2 LB, WITH PERHAPS A CUP OF CREAM, & MIXED TOGETHER WITH A POTATO MASHER OR LARGE SPOON/LADEL, WHICH WE WOULD EAT AS A MAIN COURSE, AS IS, OR WITH A SIDE OF FRESH STRAWBERRY / RASPBERRY JAM…WHAT IS THE NAME OF THAT DISH FROM SLOVAKIA/HUNGARY?

I truly miss her shortbread cookies with cherry45 slices on top, her special breaded chicken parts cooked in mushroom soup in a stove top electric skillet at low temps after having braised same. Her special ground round burgers stuffed with egg, chopped green onions, chopped bacon bits, bread crumbs, a touch of cream, moulded the size of a hockey tennis ball,then braised briefly on both sides, then slowly cooked in either mushroom soup & chicken broth for 1 hour in a deep stove top pan

Linda, it does not ring a bell in “Slovak cooking” however I suspect that it’s a polish origin as I speak some of that language.

I did a search and am not sure this is it, but look at it.

“Drobiowe” means small, and it would be easy turn it into “drobie” sound in a slang. Maybe it’s it? Not a full recipe but it lists all the stuff what goes in it. Don’t get fulled by “chicken” as it’s not a chicken but pork. Chicken is used to describe “small, thin, etc.”

Most of my family absolutely LOVES Cirak–Easter Cheese, as we call it. A childhood friend of mine always asks for it. I make it once a year, if that, and put nutmeg, vanilla and sugar in it. I like brown sugar for lots of things, but it will change the color to a brownish shade. People either love Cirak or are turned off by the thought of it being “sweet” scrambled eggs, to which I think that they are missing something delicious. Yummy! My paternal grandmother and grandfather came from Slovakia. Grandma made this recipe. My mother, not Slovak, actually made Easter Cheese, kolacky–can you tell we have a “sweet tooth?”, and the halupke from grandma’s cookbook after she passed away. Nice traditions.

Ahoy! So glad I found this website. 🙂 My mother’s family comes from Parchovany (near Trebisov) and settled in PA. I grew up making pirohi in the church basement with all the little old church ladies, and eating polichinky with homemade strawberry jam. My grandparents made it a point to make traditional Slovak food during Christmas (bobolki, oplatki, bitter mushroom soup) and Easter (hrudka, pascha bread) .

My grandmother also used to make a creamy but sour soup with green beans. The name of it escapes me, does anyone know what it’s called?

I am eating and cooking all of these wonderful food because of a terrific Mother-In-Law, who took the time to teach me and support me in all the mistakes I made. My children, their children and now my great-granddaughter share in this wealth because I felt so much love in this family. My MIL was from Krakow Poland and never got to return as an adult, After my husband passed away it was one of my first trips. Wonderful people, John Paul II actually gave me communion when I broke my ankle taking teens to see him and he saw me in the wheel chair, I greeted him in polish and he said Polsky, I said no my husband, he came and gave me communion. That is what these people are made of. When I read the stuggle through their history I understand how my MIL was able to bring up 6 children by herself after her husband died at a very young age. God love you all and a Very Happy 2014 Easter…..GS

My parents arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1912 and settled in Pittsburgh. They spoke only Slovak and we lived daily eating the foods mentioned here. I’ve no idea where he was raised except he called it “cryju” (sp?). For reasons of his own, he never spoke to us about his boyhood. Slovak is my nationality, but I lost all that I love about it along with the customs of the country. Is there a way to turn back the clock?

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I have a recipe given to me by my Father in law who passed away many years ago. It is Machanka but sounds very different from other recipes I’ve seen online. He was from outside of Bratislava. Recipes calls for lard, flour, sausage water (from boiling fresh polish sausage), allspice, salt, vinegar and sour cream. It is served with the cooked sausage and potatoes as a thick gravy/paste.

What a great resource!! I came across this when looking up Pagach recipes and found so much more here. My maternal grandmother was Italian and my grandfather was Slovak, so it was the best of both food worlds, but often confusing for me as to the origin of a particular dish until I was older and cared enough to ask.
My wife and I both have gluten and dairy sensitivities, so I’m about to attempt making Pagach with alternative ingredients (cashew cheese and GF dough mix) because I cannot live without the Pagach my grandmother used to make for me weekly. She passed 2 years ago and my grandfather passed last month, so it’s brought me back to some fond memories that I hope to recreate with some healthier alternatives (knowing that it’ll NEVER be the same as her’s). It’s been far too long without this once-staple in my upbringing. Thanks for posting all of these wonderful recipes, I plan to dive into more as time permits.

My Grandmother used to make bobalky I haven’t had it in over 40 years My dad’s family is Slovak I know a little of the language I’m interested in learning about family history and genealogy and learning the language and Slovak cooking Any stories would help

My grandma used to make bobalky I haven’t had it in over 40 years My dad’s family is Slovak I know a little of the language I am interested in learning about my family history and genealogy and learning the language and recipes ANy info would help

Hi, My Grandparents were Slovak and changed their last names when they came to the US many years ago. Most of the family have recipes for most of the dishes we had as children, one that were missing is a pie done on a cookie sheet. Instead of what may be the ingredients for today’s pizza. It was dough on the cookie sheet, topped with cabbage, onions and maybe sauerkraut, It was called pagauch, don’t know if that’s correct or not. It also was done another way topped with a cheese mixed and dill. Do you or anyone have any ideas? Thank you. Jerry

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Happy Holidays

Wishing you all happy holidays and all the best in 2018. Hopefully 2017 was a good year for you all.

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